One Good Turn: Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Turn One

Pros dish on what it's like to hit the first turn at Indy.

You may have watched the Indy 500 on TV or even attended the race in person, but have you ever wondered what it's like to go screaming into the first turn at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway? To get answers, we asked track historian Donald Davidson and a couple of pros you may have heard of named Mario and Dario. They give you the insider's rundown on what Turn One is like in a open-wheel racer at full-tilt boogie:

Indianapolis Motor Speedway/Turn One

Entry Speed (Without Draft): 232 MPH

Max G's: 4.3

Exit Speed: 226 MPH

Corner Length (Wall): 1407.25 feet

Banking: Entry: 5.40o Apex: 8.27o Exit: 5.14o

The Comments

"All those Saturday night dirt tracks around America, most are a quarter mile. That's Indianapolis turn one. Each turn is the length of a drag strip." - Donald Davidson, Official Track Historian

"Turn One is not an easy wide-open. You turn in flat and have to keep it flat in order to gain lap time, but as you turn, you don't know what you've got. You're committing yourself to the corner at high speed, and you might get that big oversteer, a load of understeer, or you might not get enough grip and the thing will slide off the track. You're really going into the unknown." - Dario Franchitti, Indy 500 Winner, 2007, 2010, 2012

"When I was a rookie, there was a big dip in the middle of the corner; that's where a lot of guys would get caught out. You had to set up for that dip or you could kiss your car good-bye." - Mario Andretti, Indy 500 Winner, 1969

"I loved the apron. We were only supposed to go down there with two wheels, and I'd catch hell from (track superintendent) Clarence Cagle all the time. 'Stay off the apron!' I'd say, 'You know what? If it's asphalt, we're going to use it.'" - MA (Indy's Turn One included a banked and unbanked portion;the unbanked portion, called the apron, was taken out in 1992.)

"Look at some of my qualifying in '65, '66, '67, we were sliding around because there was no downforce. I was taking every inch of the track, white-walling those skinny treaded tires in the short chute." - MA

"It's supposedly been blind for years. European drivers have especially noted how Turn One narrows as you approach the corner, but most of all, it's blind. You cannot see the exit until you're at the corner, which must be daunting at any speed." - DD

"There's something about that corner. You almost don't get to catch your breath from lap to lap. Turn One at Indy ranks right up there with the great ones, for sure."- MA

"The architecture of the track is a little different on the entry into Turn One, which changes the way the car feels. That first part is very sketchy. There are some ripples in the track, probably caused by the Sprint Cup cars, so the car tends to dance a bit at the apex. And turn one generally has a tailwind, so when that becomes a crosswind at the exit, it upsets the car again." - DF

And for you RoadandTrack.com visitors, some bonus nuggets:

MARIO ANDRETTI ON THE CHALLENGES OF NAVIGATING TURN 1 WITH WIND INFLUENCING THE CAR'S HANDLING:

"Turn 1 was always the most notoriously difficult corner. You've got the grandstands there, but you really felt the buffeting and the wind was unpredictable. That's one issue you know to look for."

ARIE LUYENDYK ON USING ENGINE REVS INTO TURN 1 TO PREDICT THE REST OF THE LAP:

"I also can hear it, it's not just feeling it, but you can hear it, that it almost sounds more wound up than before and, man, it's going to be a good one. And you know it's going to be good."

DARIO FRANCHITTI ON TURN 1 BRAVERY:

"I think one of the bravest things I've ever seen was (former Andretti teammate) Bryan Herta there one year in Turn 1, the first lap of qualifying, that thing swapped in and he whacked the wall. And they rebuilt the car--I believe it was the next day, he jumped in it and straight out and he's flat into Turn 1, the first lap. We were just watching the telemetry going, wow, applauding. Not easing into to it. Just flat. Takes some balls to do that."

"Fangio came to Indy in 1958 and walked the track and said all four corners were different. It was amazing he could do that—on foot—because I've even heard drivers recently say despite the corners being a quarter-mile long and having the same radius, they all have their individual traits. But you can only tell that at speed in a racing car, one would think, but Fangio was able to discern those differences on foot. It was remarkable."

We have plenty more where these came from, and we'll share the rest with you in the weeks to come as we count down to the Indy 500.

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